South american plate

[moonflower]

Problem:

Im after info that will help me answer what the relevance of the age of the oceanic crusts and the continental crusts within the south american plate Are there presence of hotspots on the south americ ...there is moreshow problem

Im after info that will help me answer what the relevance of the age of the oceanic crusts and the continental crusts within the south american plate Are there presence of hotspots on the south american plate? what is the process that is responsible for the change in area of the south american plate?

[OSHMUNNIES]

First of all, there are volcanic hotspots on every tectonic plate, continental or oceanic. Here's a great map from the USGS that illustrates this:http://www.colorado.edu/GeolSci/Resources/WUSTectonics/PacNW/ring_of_fire.gif

Secondly, asking what the ages of the oceanic and continental lithosphere of an entire tectonic plate is much too broad of a question. South America, just like any other piece of crust, is composed of rock units of all sorts of different ages, so I suggest that you narrow down your search a little.

Finally, in response to your question:

what is the process that is responsible for the change in area of the south american plate?

...there are two tectonic process responsible for changing the area of a tectonic plate: rifting (the "birth" of new crust) and subduction (the "death" or recycling of old crust).